Childish Games
by My.Eternal.Sonnet
Summary: Who knew a childish game could turn out true. Troypay


_**Summary: **Who knew a childish game could turn out true._

_**Pairing(s): **Troypay (I guess there are some other hints of other pairings, but they aren't that important in the story.)_

_**Disclaimer: **If I do own anything of the High School Musical franchaise, Troyella wouldn't be canon._

* * *

Gabriella, ten years old, and in grade four, just learned an awesome, so she thought, new game from some of the older kids from her neighborhood. Of course, being the sharing kid that she is, she decided to share it with all her friends. Mostly, Taylor and of course Sharpay. However, she didn't think someone like Sharpay would actually be interested in the game since she wasn't the one who found it out. As she ran towards her friends near the swings, it was time to play. With a paper and pencil gripped in her small hands, she ran towards them. There was no need to hurry, recess only just began. 

"Taylor!" Gabriella yelled as her friend got seated on one of the swing seats. "Sharpay!" she yelled when Sharpay took a seat on the grass, with her diary. The other two stared at Gabriella and wondered why she was so loud. Gabriella wasn't like this at all. "I learned this awesome new game from the older girls in my neighborhood and I wanted to try it out."

"What is it?" Taylor asked. She wasn't so interested into games, especially if they came from the middle school girls. Her sister was one of them and she knew what they talked about. Boys. Ew. Her sister was even writing a book about boyfriends and she couldn't figure out why someone would actually waste their time on that when there was Science.

Gabriella signaled Taylor over and sat down beside Sharpay. She sat with her legs in front of her so she had something to write on. Before responding, she wrote the title of the game on the sheet of paper. It was a simple word and all the letters were capitalized. _M.A.S.H._

Taylor heard of that game before but she didn't know how it was done. It was typical of her to ignore her sister when she talked about boys and silly girly games. On the other hand, Sharpay who was paying so little attention, stopped doodling in her diary. She had never heard of the game before. She didn't have an older sister, she only had a younger twin brother who, she thought, was more girly that anyone girl she's ever met. He did, after all, yoga with their mother... Whatever yoga was.

"How do you play?" Sharpay asked, setting her pink fluffy notebook aside.

"Well," Gabriella said, as she twirled her pencil between her index finger and thumb. "You have to choose four cars, four boys and four numbers and I write them down. Then, I drew little lines and you tell me to stop. I count the lines and see how much there is. I start from _M _and being counting and when I reach the same number of lines, whatever name I'm on, I will eliminate and I will stop when there is only one left of each category..."

"What does _M _stand for?" Sharpay inquired, pointing to Gabriella's cursive letter.

"It stands for mansion, and apartment and shack and house..."

Sharpay scrunched up her face and she only did that when she wasn't interested on playing. "Eh, I don't wanna play. Play with Taylor, this game is stupid..."

"No!" Gabriella protested. "One girl, Sarah she said she got this boy named Tony and then yesterday I heard her talking and said that Tony asked her out... It comes true!"

Sharpay scoffed at her best friend. "Stop listening in on other people, Gabs." Sharpay snorted and went back to her diary where she wrote down all her little thoughts. "I'm not interested- I'd rather even play baseball with Ryan than- whatever you call this stupid game."

Taylor shook her head. She too thought it was true. She overheard, well, spied on her sister and it also worked for her but of course she couldn't drive yet or be old enough to have kids so it wasn't all that true. "Try it, my sister said the same thing to her friend, so I think it is true..."

"Why me?" Sharpay retorted. Why did it have to ber her? There was Taylor right there and she obviously didn't try it and Gabriella should try it to since she already, some what, told them how to play.

Gabriella swatted her friend with the pink diary she snatched out of her friend's hand. "Because you're the only one who doubts the power of _M.A.S.H. _Now, it's either you play or I'll tell everyone that you still sleep in footy pajamas..."

Sharpay's mouth fell wide open. Black mail. Something she thought Gabriella would never do. Boy, she was wrong. "Fine!"

Taylor and Gabriella clapped and applauded Sharpay for being obediant and going first. They'll have their turns later. "So, tell me four boys that you like," Gabriella said teasingly especially with the last word. Of course, she knew Sharpay wasn't interested in boys at the moment but they were interested in her. "Alright, fine, boys that like you..." Gabriella gave in, as Sharpay shot her a nasty glare.

"Uh, Zeke," Sharpay said quickly since he was like a stalker. If he kept this, she's going to tell her father to call the cops on him. "Jason, I guess," she said slowly, as she saw Jason coming out from school. He had another detention for sleeping in class. Good thing it was only for a while and not all of recess. "Chad..." It came to her mind but he didn't like her. Knowing him since preschool really has gotten to her. "And- um..."

"Troy Bolton!" Taylor blurted out once she saw the cutest guy in grade our greeting his friend Jason. The blonde glared at Taylor, it was worse than the glare she gave Gabriella. Taylor knew that Sharpay wasn't a fan of Troy. He always stole her spotlight and no one messed with Sharpay's spotlight.

"Four cars, please!" Gabriella continued on, moving to the next category. She ignored the compliants she recieved from the blond beside. Playing deaf was her greatest talent. Since Sharpay was complaining and since she wanted to get the game going, Gabriella listed down some cars she knew and hopefully Sharpay wouldn't mind them. And she also decided to list down some numbers and made two of them extremely high. "Tell me to stop, Evans!"

Sharpay, being the stubborn girl that she is, yelled stop a few seconds after Gabriella started so the girl only was able to put in a few lines. While the two other girls waited, one started to swing and other was writing in her notebook, cursing Gabriella.

"There goes Zeke," Gabriella muttered. "And there goes the limo- Phew, shack is gone. Lucky- Ha, one child is gone." She stopped talking, she wanted to keep the rest a secret to surprise her doubtful friend. When she was done, Gabriella was all smiles and threw her arms in the air. She did this when she was done her work and often surprised their teacher. Reflexes was her only response.

"So..." Sharpay urged in a monotone voice.

Gabriella pouted and waited for Taylor sit down next to them. "Are you ready to hear the verdict?" Gabriella asked, as she was someone extremely important, which she wasn't, well, not yet. "Congratulations, you have in a lovely Mansion, have four beautiful kids instead of the twenty kids I wanted you to have, you own a lovely Volvo and marry the one and only, Troy Bolton- Of course you could have more than one mansion and more than one car but the kids and Troy thing seems pretty right, so you might get together sometime soon..."

The look on Sharpay's face before Troy's name was sad, was surprised and happy but got completely cut off when her husband was named. No way she was ever going to marry Troy Bolton. That was impossible. Troy went for girls who were smart, pretty, sweet and well, girls like Gabriella. Not girls who were attention seekers, snooty and his rival in popularity. Like she said and still believe, _M.A.S.H._ was a silly kids' game that will never ever come true.

Not in a million years.

--

It's been almost eight years since the three girls played that game. Gabriella and Taylor forgot who they got but Sharpay didn't. It was surprising since she was so against the game in the first place. But, deep down, she really did hope that the game was true and that someday she will marry Troy. But in the eight years that she's been waiting for him to ask her out, it never happened. Instead, the worst thing happened to her. Gabriella, her best friend, was now Troy Bolton's girl-friend. And everyone, including her pictured them getting married and having kids. Sharpay was more in depth when she pictured them, she saw Gabriella having the life Sharpay wanted. Not being able to tell her feelings out in the open, Sharpay said yes when Gabriella asked if she could date Troy.

"Morning," Sharpay said grimly as she saw the lovebird near her locker, kissing and making cute little couple faces. It sickened her but she had to keep a smile on her face to prevent them from thinking she was miserable. Of course the malice in her voice was a dead give away.

"Morning, Shar!" Gabriella greeted, pulling her face from Troy's. Did she not hear how horrible her best friend sounded?

It was no surprise to Sharpay that Gabriella was oblivious to the fact that Sharpay woke up on the wrong side of the bed. When Troy and Gabriella were together, they thought the universe revolved around them and didn't noticed anything. If the school was ever on fire, they would have never noticed it. Not being able to stand all the cute sick stuff, Sharpay passed them and moved on to Taylor's locker. She didn't feel like getting her books at the moment. And of course, they didn't notice her leave.

"Hey, Sharpay," Taylor greeted in her soft voice. She had a feeling Sharpay wasn't in the mood and she had a feeling who made her feel so, well not, the perky Sharpay. Although, she knew the perky Sharpay was only to catch Troy's attention, since he seems to like girls like that. The real Sharpay was truthful and it comes out mean, she spoke her mind and followed the beat of her own drum. But she wasn't that perky, happy-go-lucky, jazz hands kind of person she put on. Sharpay wasn't a good reader of the male species.

"Please tell me that they aren't going to act like that during our English assignment for Darbus today..." Sharpay whined as she linked arms with her friend who actually understood her.

"I can't gurantee that, Pay."

"I hate this. I hate them being together. I hate being the stubborn bitch that I am..."

"You could always tell Gabriella that you don't like them together, she was considerate enough to ask if you cared in the first place..."

Sharpay groaned and snatched her arm back as they sat down in their desks in homeroom. "I can't do that! How bitchy will that make me? I'm already the Ice Freakin' Bitch of this school, I don't need to the the jealous best friend/ home wrecker!"

"Well, sorry!" Taylor replied as Sharpay said her simple yet truthful rant. That's how the school sees her and how they will see her if she ever did such a thing.

Sharpay banged her head on the desk and let out a long frustrated moan. Everyone heard her but decided to ignore it. They didn't want to bother Sharpay in the morning so they decided to quiet themselves down with work and small chit-chat. "I took that stupid game seriously..."

Taylor rolled her eyes even though she didn't mean to. She always took things seriously. "You always take things too seriously. Plus, if that game is true, which I somewhat doubt, since I remember I'm going to live in a shack, there is always time before marriage. You knows what will happen in the years to come."

"Always the voice of reason, aren't you Tay?" Sharpay asked, smiling the first time since she arrived at school. "Oh and thanks for NOT disagreeing withe me when I called myself those awful names!" Her attitude could sure change quickly. "Do me a favor."

"Yeah..."

"Let's play _M.A.S.H._"

--

A few years have passed since Taylor and Sharpay's game ended. The results differed from the first. She lived in a house, had two kids, drove a BMW but still married Troy. The only way for her not to marry Troy was to cut his name from the list of the four guys she had in mind. But she couldn't do that, the whole purpose of the second game was to see if it was true and it seemed to be. So during those final months of high school, she was hopeful but it dimmed when they all went to different universities. Taylor left for Harvard, Gabriella Yale, herself Princeton, Troy NYU, Ryan of course went to Princeton and where ever Troy was, Chad was. He tried to follow Taylor but Harvard wasn't the best place for an afro headed basketball player.

But she wasn't in university anymore, so let's continue. Sharpay moved to New York once she established her new fashion magazine and of course to be recognized, she had to move to the biggest city in the world. The game she played many years ago slipped her mind and when she saw kids playing it, it made her laugh.

As she entered her New York condo, everything was quiet. It was already late and everyone must've been sleeping already. Being an editor sure tired her out. She liked to do everything and didn't want her assistants to help her. After all, she didn't trust them because they didn't know perfection like she did. The lights in her room were turned on and the light was glaring upon the floor. Someone was still awake. She entered and saw her husband digging through some old notes in a shoe box.

"I'm home," Sharpay said quietly, putting her coat and purse aside.

Troy looked up and smiled. "It's late..."

"I know," she said, sitting down next to him on the floor. She picked up a little folded piece of paper and read it after she opened it. "Ah, this thing."

"I never saw that," Troy replied, stealing the note from her hand. "I was searching for some old letters that I sent you a few years back. I wanted to know if you kept it since I kept your's," he explained his sneaky behaviour. Troy smirked when he read the note. "Really, Sharpay..."

Sharpay stuck out her tongue and retrieved the note that someone wrote for her. "I was ten years old! Plus, Gabriella pratically begged me to play."

Troy laughed. "Did you actually believe in that game?"

"No!" Sharpay blurted out bluntly. "Well, at first I kind of did then I was skeptical especially when _Troyella_ happened. So, I played another one with Taylor.."

He raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"It still said I married you."

The brunette smiled and looked back into the box at a pink sheet of lined paper. "Did you believe that one?"

The blonde pushed herself off the floor and collapsed on their queen sized bed. She rolled over to her side, so she was facing Troy. "No- But when I moved here and saw you again, I asked Ryan to play with me."

Troy sighed and put all the notes back into the box, not bothering to look for the other two _M.A.S.H. _games. "And?" He was so nosy, it sometimes made her wonder if he was a girl in his past life.

Sharpay gave him a sly smile. "I'll let you guess. It's a shame that you don't remember, it was like one of the best days of my life. It's tied with our wedding day, the birth of Kimberly and tied with anything else that happens with you..."

Then it hit him. She recited that line some time before. A couple of years back. The day he proposed to her. One of the happiest days of their lives: _Yes! Troy! I will marry you! I can't believe this is actually happening! I never in a million years that we would ever get married. This is like the best day of my life for now because it'll be tied with our wedding day, the birth of our children and anything else that happens with you..." _

"You played _M.A.S.H._ the day before I proposed to you?" She nodded sweetly at him before turning over on her stomach and burying her face into the bed sheets. "You and your childish games, Sharpay," he replied, falling beside her. He slightly nudged her so she would face him and she did, turning to her side again.

Sharpay, the wife of Troy, caressed his cheek and looked into his pool like eyes. "They may be childish, but they always come true," and she kissed him.

Not only was she referring to herself but for Taylor who married her _M.A.S.H._ soulmate, Chad, and for Gabriella and Ryan who also got each other. But she also referred for all the young girls that played her favourite game and ended up with the right guy. They may have not gotten the cars, the house or the kids they were supposed to have but they did get the guy of their dreams. Sharpay was happy that she gave the game many chances and that she never gave up.

Of course it wasn't the game who played a part in their love lives but it gave Sharpay hope and confidence to get the guy of her dreams. And she did.

* * *

_I hoped you enjoyed my one-shot. Pardon me for the mistakes but I'm a little too lazy to edit at the moment. But I will. I know it's a little corny and pointless and I know MASH isn't true, but gotta have a little faith and hope. Sharpay did and look how she turned out. _

_BTW, I'm changing the title of my story, All I Want For Christmas Is You, to Eternal Flame. I was listening to Atomic Kitten a few days back and decided the title was nice and since Christmas is over, the story title needed a little change. So, please check that out._

_-Aj_


End file.
